Man pleads guilty in 2011 Joliet murder

JOLIET – A Joliet man was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in a 2011 murder.

Jordan A. Arthur, 28, would have faced 45 years to life in prison if he'd been found guilty during a trial that was scheduled for next week for the slaying of Courtney L. Jordan.

About 1:35 a.m. June 1, 2011, Jordan, 34, called 911, saying he was being threatened on North Broadway Street by a man in black clothing who was "pointing an object at him," Will County Assistant State's Attorney Chris Koch said. According to investigators, Arthur could be heard yelling in the background during the call.

While some officers arrived to find Jordan fatally shot in a parking lot, another saw Arthur walking on Center Street wearing a white shirt. Koch said police later found a black shirt tossed behind a fence on Center Street that had Arthur's DNA and gunshot residue on it.

Investigators said Jordan and Arthur had been in a love triangle with Lynntoya Orsborn, who, like Arthur, lived in the apartments near where Jordan was slain.

"A few days before there had been an argument between the men over Orsborn ... and the victim had been repeatedly calling the defendant," Koch said.

Joliet police also were called to Orsborn's residence the night before the slaying because Jordan was pounding on her door, Koch said.

Orsborn addressed the court Thursday, reading a note from her daughter, who is also named Courtney Jordan.

"Every day when I go to sleep or wake up, I think about my daddy ... and wish he'd be proud of me. I never got to spend a lot of time with him because of mistakes he made when he was young [but] I miss him," the 12-year-old girl wrote to Judge Sarah Jones.

Jordan, who had two daughters, was on parole from a 10-year sentence for delivery of drugs at the time of his death.

"No parent should have to bury a child," Jordan's father, Danny Jones, said. "I'm glad this [legal] phase of it is coming to an end. The rest of it will never end."

Arthur answered Jones' questions with a soft-spoken, "Yes, ma'am," but did not address the court.

"He's only pleading guilty so he can have a life when he gets out," Arthur's cousin, Elyse Pasternak, said outside the courtroom. "He didn't do this. [Courtney] Jordan had so many enemies."